“Top Chef” alum Mike Isabella’s next project will be a Greek restaurant in Arlington’s Ballston neighborhood. Kapnos Taverna, a sister to the recently opened Kapnos on 14th Street NW in D.C., will open in the summer of 2014.
The 185-seat Kapnos Taverna will serve a menu inspired by Northern Greek cuisine, including dishes from the Greek isles. The menu will differ somewhat from the the U Street neighborhood location, however, especially in the inclusion of weekday lunch, weekend brunch and happy hour.
The bar will feature 10 cocktails on tap and the restaurant will include Isabella’s most ambitious wine program yet, with 200 bottles displayed in a two-story wine case.
The restaurant will go into a new residential building that’s part of Liberty Center South, the development from the Shooshan Cos. that includes the new Defense Research Projects Agency building and a new Residence Inn. It will join Taylor Gourmet, which signed a lease for a corner retail space in the building, at Wilson Boulevard and N. Quincy Street, earlier this year.
The Liberty Center block of Wilson has been a draw for a number of locally-owned restaurant groups and chains in the midst of a neighborhood that has often been dominated by larger national companies. Neighborhood Restaurant Group’s Rustico and Buzz Bakery are across the street from where Kapnos will open, right next to fast-casual salad shop Sweetgreen.
